Irrigation tray for administering enemas to babies



Dec. 26, 1950 v, c, THOMPSON 2,535,336

IRRIGATION TRAY FOR ADMINISTERING ENEMAS T0 BABIES Filed June 16, 1947 IN V EN TOR. Mrgz'pz'a. Campbd/ Thompson.

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Jus'e in'fadminis'tering enemas to' babies. fleet of the invention isito provide aver-y light weight and highly sanitary article for use in "either hospitals or 'inthe home, the use of which Patented Dec. 26, 1950 IRRIGATION TRAY FOR vADlVIINISTIJERIN G ENEMAS TO.BABIES Virginia C. Thompson, Arlington, Va.

Application June 16, 1947., Serial No.17 54,980

2 Claims.

invention relates 'to an irrigatiOn .tray for The obwill eliminate the major part of the work and troubleusually incident to the administering of enemas tovery young children and infants. The problems encountered in giving enemas to babies are very dilferent from those encountered in administering enemas to adults for the reason that the infant does not have the reasoning powers which would lead to a conscious effort to control the force of the discharge from the person. Upon the contrary such discharge is with full force in a straight line which results in splattering over everything within reach. Bed pans intended for adults are wholly unsuited for use with infants. All that the mother or nurse has had to assist in such an operation is the use of diapers, cloths, rubber blankets and the like. The result has been that the work of cleaning up after the administering of the enema far exceeds the work of giving the enema. Further, after the initial cleaning up, the work of washing the used cloths, diapers, etc, presents a laborious as well as a very unpleasant task.

To overcome the foregoing difficulties, I provide a light weight device of plastic or other easily cleaned, sanitary material comprising an elongated tray of a length to receive the body of the baby. At one end this tray merges into an upstanding structure shaped and dimensioned to receive and retain the evacuated material and having walls of such configuration as to prevent the splashing which causes most of the mess in present day practice. The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view illustrating the position of the child on the tray.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the irrigation tray.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a cup which may be employed if desired.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 5 is a front end elevation.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing.

In the drawing 5 designates an elongated plate of a length to receive substantially the whole body of a small child. This plate with the bulbous nose hereinafter described comprises the body of the irrigation tray of my invention. The upper face of the plate is concave in transverse section "(see' Fig. 4) to .keep the child properly centered thereon and said plate has upon its underside,

downwardly directed members, such as thefianges 6, which engage .a.pi1low 1, upon which the tray is "placed. "This, pillow tilts the tray so that .it inclines downwardly, toward the rightin Fig. .1

and the 'flangesprevent the whole tray from slipvping sidew'ise from the pillow.

At :its .right hand end the plate *5 merges gradually into the upstanding structure comprising front wall 1 and side walls 8. The plate 5 merges into the front wall by a curved wall 9 and the front and side walls merge into each other along curved lines as indicated at H) in Figs. 2 and 5. The front wall is rearwardly inclined from bottom to top. The described arrangement provides a bulbous nose ll constituting a catch basin for the evacuated material, no portion of the interior wall of which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the childs body. The evacuated materials expelled with great force and in a substantially straight line find no plane wall upon which to impinge and splash. Upon the contrary their direction of flow is changed so gradually that they ultimately come to rest in the bulbous nose of the tray, where they may remain until the child has been removed and cared for, after which the tray may be cleaned with but a very few minutes work and will be found to be in a wholesome and sanitary condition when again required for use.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a cup 12 adapted to receive just the right amount of water for an enema for a baby. This cup is provided with hooks l3 either integral with or separate from the cup and which hooks engage in openings M. This cup provides means for maintaining right at hand the water or other liquid necessary for the enema. This cup may be used or not as may be desired. I may vary the proportions as I find desirable. However I contemplate making the structure from twenty-five to thirty inches in length, about ten inches in height at its highest point and from eight to ten inches wide. Any suitable material may be employed in the manufacture of this article. However, I prefer plastic because it is cheap, easily formed, waterproof, easily cleaned, is sanitary, is of light weight, may be had in many colors and lends itself to the formation of an attractive nursery fixture.

I wish it to be understood that the invention includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a tray for use in administering enemas to babies, a structure comprising an elongated plate that is substantially straight in its longitudinal dimension and concave in its lateral dimension and of a length and width to support the entire body of a baby, the forward end of said plate merging into a bulbous body, said body comprising curved front and side walls, said front and side walls of the bulbous body merging into the forward end of the plate along curved lines which present concave curved surfaces toward the plate at all points, the front wall being inclined rearwardly and being at least as high as the plate is wide, the side walls inclining toward each other toward their top portions, and members projecting downwardly from the underside of the tray comprising a pair of flanges, one upon each side of the plate and extending along the opposite edges of said plate between the bulbous body and the rear end of the tray and far enough below said plate to anchor the tray against lateral shifting with respect to a pillow upon which the tray is supported.

2. In a tray for use in administering enemas to babies, a structure comprising an elongated plate that is substantially straight in its longitudinal dimension and concave in its lateral dimension and of a length and width to support the entire body of a baby, the forward end of said plate merging into a bulbous body, said body comprising curved front and side walls, said front and side walls of the bulbous body merging into the forward end of the plate along curved lines which present concave curved surfaces toward the plate at all points,the front wall being inclined rearwardly and being at least as high as the plate is wide, the side walls inclining toward each other toward their top portions, and members projecting downwardly from the underside of the plate far enough to engage in and anchor the tray against'slipping with respect to a pillow upon which the tray is supported.

VIRGINIA c. THOMPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 346,309 OBrien July 27, 1886 371,193 Haertel Oct. 11, 1887 1,045,793 Houclard Nov. 26, 1912 2,435,915 Co-ffing Mar. 2, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 302,160 Germany Dec. 6, 1917 

